Iloilo’s 1st solar plant opens

ILOILO CITY: Considered as the first solar power plant in Western Visayas, the Cosmo Solar Energy Inc. opened its 5.6 megawatts Iloilo Solar Power Plant in Miagao town to connect to the national grid.

Rudy Golez Jr., president and chief executive officer of Cosmo, said his firm invested P745 million for the project and was awarded a 25-year solar energy contract by the Department of Energy for the development of a renewable energy facility sitting on a 15-hectare property in Barangay Narat-an.

The company also plans to put up another solar power plant in an adjacent property in Barangay Tapican in the neighboring town of San Joaquin, also in Iloilo province.

The second phase will provide an additional 6.5 megawatts of solar power into the national grid.

The SACASOL Solar Power Plant in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental was used to be the first solar power plant in the country, and in Western Visayas, when Negros Occidental was still part of Region VI.

With Negros Occidental already part of the Negros Island Region, the Iloilo solar power plant may be considered as the first in Region VI.

The National Economic and Development Authority noted that renewable energy projects have been steadily increasing in Region VI.

The most recent of such projects include the Villaciga hydropower project in Antique, the San Lorenzo wind farm in Guimaras and the Nabas wind farm in Aklan.